Sheaf (agriculture)

A sheaf in agriculture is a bundle of stalks of grain, including at the upper end located ligand ears.

Earlier, the grain was mowed at the grain harvest with the sickle, faces or sense and then bundled into sheaves by wrapping some straws around the bundle to keep it together, among others, in Central Europe. For grain drying presented to several sheaves leaning against each other on the field together.

With the progress of mechanization in agriculture first mowing of the grain was mechanized by mowers and later the sheaf binding by the reaper. The Mähbindern tying together the sheaves was no longer with stalks of grain, but a special twine.

After drying, the sheaves they were loaded onto specially upgraded trailer and stored in a barn to be threshed out in a poorer working time. Sometimes has also waived the interim storage and threshed immediately.

To loosen the dried sheaves, there were special knife that had different regional forms, eg, as an open brass knuckles, which has a thin blade in place of the face, or u -shaped, with a vertical line, the handle, the other the cutting edge and the combination of both at the same time serves as a hand guard. Also forms like a fist knives were not uncommon.

As a "common characters " sheaves play a role in heraldry.